a collection of travel stories

July 4, 2011May 10, 2016

Americana

The day started at 7am, when Kate, Aaron and Ray ran the 33rd annual Black Hills Rodeo 10km. I wandered around with Amos for the hour they were running. After some breakfast and showers we headed back to downtown Belle Fourche (pronounced bell foosh) for the 4th of July parade. 250+ floats throwing candy and spraying water at the crowds. Senators, marching bands, square dancing, old cars, barbershop quartets, high school reunions, Miss South Dakota, horses, cowgirls, marines, seamen and soldiers…the list goes on. As Kate’s mom told me, it doesn’t get more Americana than this.

After the parade and lunch we headed out of town into the Black Hills to Iron Creek Lake – where Kate’s family has a cabin. At a solid 30 degrees it was a warm and relaxing afternoon in the water, drinking beer, talking with new friends, taking photos etc.

Tomorrow is a long day driving. We need to make some changes, as the Minnesota state parks are on strike and our campsite got cancelled. We will have to see where we end up!